Division of Compensation Analysis and

Support

Program Evaluation Report

Document Number: DCAS-PER-081

Effective Date: 10/17/2017

Revision No. 0

Hooker Electrochemical Page 1 of 3

Author: Signature on file Date: 10/17/2017 

 Dave Allen, HP Team Leader

Approval: Signature on file Date: 10/17/2017 

 J. W. Neton, Associate Director for Science

Supersedes: none

RECORD OF ISSUE/REVISIONS

ISSUE 

AUTHORIZATION 

DATE

EFFECTIVE

DATE

REV. NO. DESCRIPTION

10/17/2017 10/17/2017 0 New document to determine the effect of 

revision 3 to DCAS-TKBS-0009

(Hooker Electrochemical TBD) on 

previously completed claims.

1.0 Description

A Hooker Electrochemical site specific appendix to Battelle-TBD-6001 (Appendix AA) 

was issued on 6/15/2007. This appendix was superseded by a stand-alone Technical 

Basis Document (TBD) on 4/4/2011 (DCAS-TKBS-0009 rev. 0). Soon after, on 

6/16/2011, revision 1 to TBKS-0009 was issued to correct an error. On 7/24/2012, a 

program evaluation report (PER) was issued to evaluate the effect of those revisions on 

previously completed claims. 

On 11/10/2015, revision 2 of DCAS-TKBS-0009 was issued to incorporate additional 

information, as well as account for the designation of a class of Hooker employees to the 

Special Exposure Cohort (SEC). Additional minor corrections were made in revision 3 

issued on 9/1/2016. 

The effect of these new revisions on previously completed claims is the subject of this 

PER.
Division of Compensation Analysis and 

Support

Program Evaluation Report

Document Number: DCAS-PER-081

Effective Date: 10/17/2017 Revision No.: 0 Page 2 of 3

2.0 Issue Evaluation

Revision 2 of the TBD included new information about the production rate of uranium at 

Hooker. This resulted in an increase in the exposure time over the previous estimate. As 

a result external doses increase during the operational years. NIOSH’s inability to 

reconstruct internal dose during operational period was the basis for designating an SEC 

class at Hooker. Thus, internal doses are no longer included in Hooker dose 

reconstructions starting in revision 2. 

The increased production rate caused an increase in the modeled residual contamination

levels, which resulted in an increase in both the internal and external doses in the residual 

period. Revision 3 included all the changes in revision 2 plus a few minor corrections.

The overall effect of the changes made to the technical basis document is that revision 2 

(and revision 3) caused at least one aspect of the dose estimate to increase each year 

during the operational and residual periods. Therefore, all previously completed claims 

with employment at Hooker will be reevaluated under this Program Evaluation Report 

(PER).

3.0 Plan for Resolving Corrective Action

A search was conducted for all claims with Hooker Electrochemical employment that had 

a probability of causation (POC) of less than 50%. Those that had been completed using 

revision 3 of the TBD were eliminated from consideration. Also, those that would 

qualify for inclusion in the SEC were eliminated. This left 108 claims to be evaluated 

further. Additionally, during the evaluation process, one of the claims was returned to 

NIOSH for a new dose reconstruction and was reworked using revision 3. This claim 

was therefore eliminated from the PER evaluation. The doses for each of the 107

remaining cases were recalculated using revision 3 of the Hooker TBD, as well as the 

current revision of any other applicable documents. 

Of the 107 remaining claims, 104 resulted in a new POC below 45% and two resulted in 

a POC greater than 52%. For the remaining claim, IREP was run 30 times at 10,000 

iterations per NIOSH procedures. The resulting POC was less than 50%. It should be 

noted that, one of the claims greater than 50% appears to qualify for inclusion in the SEC 

at another site but may need a new dose reconstruction to qualify for some medical 

benefits. The Department of Labor will be notified of these details and they will 

determine if a new dose reconstruction is necessary.
Division of Compensation Analysis and 

Support

Program Evaluation Report

Document Number: DCAS-PER-081

Effective Date: 10/17/2017 Revision No.: 0 Page 3 of 3

NIOSH will provide the Department of Labor with the list of all the claims evaluated 

under this PER. Further, NIOSH will request the return of the 2 claims that would now 

result in a probability of causation greater than 50%.